'You are what you eat.'

Those words echoed repeatedly in Taehyung's sultry voice over and over in my head. Even during Jungkook's funeral as I watched the one who said those heartless words cry the hardest out of the six of us, I could still hear that phrase. Taehyung and Jungkook were close, right? That's why the other was mourning so deeply. Why would he say that then?

After the ceremony, I decided to ask him at the reception.

It was difficult to get him alone. In a way, it almost seemed like he was avoiding me. I would catch him throwing glances towards me when I tried to push through the crowd to pull him aside, only for him to shoot me a smirk and move farther away. It was frustrating. Not until the last moment of the reception, after we paid our respects to Jungkook’s family, that we were heading home was I able to pull him aside. Telling our solemn faced friends to go on without us, I finally had my chance to ask Taehyung what he meant.

"Jin, you're really thinking about that now? At a funeral?" He crooned, shaking his head in disappointment.

I bit my lip. He was right. While I should have been mourning the loss of my dear friend, I was far too distracted by the chilling words Taehyung said that day. "It's been bothering me." I needed to know. It was far too burdensome to go on without knowing the true meaning behind his words.

"Jungkook ate some sort of rotting animal when he got into the trash. The bone from that animal is what ruptured his stomach." Taehyung explained blankly. "He ate something that was dead. He died because of it. Therefore, you are what you eat. Better? Now let's go join the others, yeah?" With a playful smile, he took my arm and led me along the streets towards Hoseok's house. Too speechless to protest, I followed along in silence.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the funeral, it was decided that our group would meet up at Hoseok’s house- or J-Hope as we liked to call him. We were all very vulnerable and still very shaken up by the entire ordeal. Jungkook’s behavior changed immediately after we left the art museum and that was a little over a month ago. I began to think; have there been any changes in the rest of us as well?

“Come back to Earth, Jin. We’re here.” Taehyung chided, pulling me out of my thoughts. “You go first. Since you’re older.”

Deciding not to argue with him, I knocked on the door and entered J-Hope’s house. Muffled voices could be heard from what I assumed was the living room. That’s where we always seemed to be when we came here anyways. Taehyung and I removed our shoes and made our way to join the others.

Upon entering the room, the first thing I noticed was the way J-Hope’s face lit up when we walked in. “I was starting to think you two wouldn’t make it!” He chirped, standing up to give us both a hug. The others smiled at us as well, acknowledging our arrival.

While it would be hard to accept the death of Jungkook, we all tried to not let his death change our friendships with one another. He would have wanted it to be that way. In order to cope with our loss, we tried our best to remain positive.

“Come, come. Sit down.” J-Hope encouraged, and we obliged. Taehyung made his way over to Suga while I made my way over to sit next to Namjoon. On my way over, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful ceramic apple displayed neatly on J-Hope’s coffee table. It was strangely familiar.

“That wasn’t there before,” I began, pointing at the apple. “Where did you get that?”

In the process of sitting down, J-hope froze. “What do you mean? I’ve always had that.” Laughing awkwardly, he sat down on the floor and changed the subject.

“Hey, Jimin, where did you get that watch from?”

It was strange. How he changed the subject so quickly. While the two talked about Jimin’s watch, I laid my eyes back on the apple, and I tried to piece together where I saw it from.

“You know,” Taehyung’s seductive voice brought silence to room once he spoke up. All eyes were on him. “You keep talking about Jimin’s watch like you just have to have it, J-Hope.”

“Well,” The other countered. “It is a nice watch.”

“And he who wants everything every time, will lose everything every time.” Taehyung retorted, meeting my gaze and shooting a sly smirk.

Taken aback, J-Hope fidgeted in his seat and dropped the topic about Jimin’s watch.

By then, it finally dawned on me. That apple came from the museum. Not wanting to hop to conclusions and accuse my friend of theft, I decided to wait until we all went to sleep -we all decided to stay the night here- and investigate. The apple from the museum had a special signature on the bottom from its artist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After everyone had fallen asleep, each of us had found a place somewhere in the house to rest our tired bodies, I made my way back into the living room to check the apple. Lifting the small ceramic object from its place on the table, I checked underneath it. As I had suspected, there was a neatly indented signature left by the artist.

I was shocked. How did I not notice him take it in the first place?

A noise from the hallway startled me and I quickly placed the apple back where it once was and laid on the couch, pretending to be asleep. I heard a figure creep into the room and I felt them stand near the couch where I laid.

Trying to steady my breathing, terrified, I listened closely to whoever was there. I almost flinched when a low whisper sliced through the silence of the sleeping household.

“Hey, Jin. Are you awake?”

It was J-Hope. Keeping my breathing slow and willing away the racing of my heart, I remained silent- feigning sleep.

“You know, Jin, I really like those nice chopsticks that girl gave you…” he carried on, the ruffling of fabric told me he had crouched down beside me. Whispering into my ear, “I hope you don’t mind.” I felt him reach into my pocket and take out my wallet. My breath hitched in my throat. He wasn’t stealing from me, was he?

Hearing him open my wallet, I cracked open an eye as I watched him pull out its contents and put them in his sweater pocket. Closing my eye again as he reached forward, putting my wallet back, I felt him reach into my other pocket where I kept the chopsticks I always had on me. Willing away my urge to just sit up and punch him in the face for doing this, I stayed still. This was so uncharacteristic of him that I was scared to see what else he would do if he knew I was awake. Finally, after what seemed that forever that he just sat there and watched me, he got up and left the room.

Jolting upwards, I took out my wallet to see how much he took. Everything. Exasperated, I shook my head in disbelief. Sliding my legs over the couch, I was about to get up and confront him but a figure in the doorway caught my eyes. Feeling my heart leap into my throat, I choked back a gasp and fell back into the couch cushions. Standing in the living room doorway was Taehyung. His face was blank as he stared at me. Holding a blank expression wasn’t unusual for Taehyung, usually it was pretty funny, but given the way the dark lit room reflected on his features as well as the way he just appeared out of nowhere made the look terrifying.

“You… Were awake?” I choked out, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat.

Smirking playfully, he made his way over to me. “Nah~ I just woke up.” He chimed as he took a seat next to me.

“Did you… Pass J-Hope in the hallway?” I asked, my brows furrowing as I eyed Taehyung carefully.

Not answering my question, he shrugged his shoulders and laid his head on my shoulder.

“You ask too many questions. It’s late, you know?” With pursed lips, he nuzzled his head on my shoulder childishly.

Looking down at my feet, I let out a deep sigh. He was hard to deal with sometimes. Before I could say anything more, I was pushed onto my back. Shocked, I looked up into the once more blank face of the younger male who now propped himself above me. Gaze locked, I could only lay there in shock.

his lips and smirking once more, like nothing ever happened, he teasingly punched my shoulder and laughed. “I’m just messing with you. You’re too easy to mess with.”

Laying next to me, he turned so that his back was facing me. Once he was comfortable he let out a tired, “Night, night.” before his breathing slowed as he fell asleep. In the silence, I stared up at the dark ceiling above us. I waited patiently, making sure Taehyung was completely asleep before I tried to slip away. Before even one of my feet left the couch, a hand shot out and tugged it around the younger’s waist. My heart raced as I was shocked that the other was still awake.

Seeing that I wouldn’t be leaving this spot for the rest of the night, I gave in and relaxed. Laying on my side, with my chest to Taehyung’s back to make my arm being tugged over him a little less awkward, I sighed. I slid my free arm in between my chest and his back to put a bit more space in between us. When my hand accidentally touched his back, I could feel something rough protruding from the skin beneath the younger’s back. Trying not to let my mind wander too much more tonight, I ignored my curiosity and allowed sleep to take over my tired body.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I came to, Taehyung was gone. Sitting up, I blinked sleepily, looking around the room. As I began to become more fully aware of my surroundings, I was able to pick up a bit of commotion coming from the kitchen. Standing up groggily, I looked at the coffee table and saw that the ceramic apple was no longer there.

“I can’t believe he… where is he….” Hearing broken parts of Namjoon’s voice coming from the other room, I made my way to the kitchen to investigate what was going on. The first thing I noticed was how tense Namjoon was. Jimin was beside him, whispering something in an attempt to calm him down.

“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice still laced with traces of sleep.

“All the money in our wallets are gone, Jimin’s watch is missing, and J-Hope is nowhere to be found.” Yoongi answered immediately.

“I thought we could trust him.” Namjoon spat, swatting Jimin’s comforting hand away. “We just lost Jungkook and now J-Hope’s stealing from us.” He looked all of us in the eye threateningly. “Who’s next? Huh? Who’s going to tear us apart next?” Growling, he rubbed his chin as tears of frustration and sorrow threatened to fall from his eyes.

“Now, now.” Taehyung chimed in. “Let’s not jump to conclusions-”

“How can we not? We all had our money when we got here and one of us is missing. There’s only one person who could’ve done it.” Namjoon cut in, eyeing Taehyung dangerously.

Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, Taehyung rolled his eyes. “Well, what do you think he would do with all of that money then? He’s not necessarily struggling with finances, you know.”

“He took my watch too, you know-”

“Yeah, well, if it were me I would go to a hotel and sleep.” Yoongi interrupted Jimin, ignoring the offended look the other shot him.

“I worked way too hard to earn that money for it to just be stolen.” Namjoon spat, slamming his hand on the kitchen counter.

The three began to throw ideas about where J-Hope could be and what he could possibly be using the money on. While they argued, Taehyung and I shared a glance before I decided to speak up. “Well, I think-”

“No one cares Jin.” Jimin cut in before continuing what he was saying before about his watch.
 

Dejected, I sighed and looked at Taehyung pleadingly. In response, he just laughed, rolled his eyes and looked away. I huffed and tried again. “Well, if he doesn’t need money for anything important,” I began, regardless of the other’s not paying attention to me. “I would think he would spend it on pleasure.”

That idea seemed to catch their attention. Telling the others to quiet down, Yoongi looked at me, quirking a questioning brow. “And what do you think he would spend it on for pleasure? A love hotel?”

Flushing at bit, embarrassed at that thought, I shook my head. “No, I was thinking along the lines of… a casino?”

That idea seemed to hit home as I noticed Namjoon stand straight and head towards the door.

“Where in the world are you going?” Jimin asked, craning his neck as he watched the other leave the room.

“To the biggest casino in town.” He called back, before the sound of a door could be heard being slammed.

The four of us left shared a quick glance before we all grabbed our jackets and ran out of the house to follow Namjoon.

Thankfully, we caught up with him right as he caught a cab. Filing inside the vehicle, we made our way towards the biggest and most popular casino we could think of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we arrived, Namjoon was quick to get out and storm towards the entrance. Following suit, we rushed behind him, trying to keep up with his pace. Approaching the front desk, Namjoon pulled out his phone to show the receptionist a picture of J-Hope.

While he talked with the young woman at the front, the rest of us gathered door leading to the game room. We tried to glance through the crowded room to see if we could catch the rust colored hair of our friend. “She said she saw him go in and he has yet to come out.” Namjoon explained, approaching us as he slid his phone back into his pocket. “Let’s split up and find him. Whoever finds him first, bring him back here to the lobby where we’ll meet back up.”

Nodding in confirmation we split up. Thankfully, this casino had five floors, so the five of us could split up so we could each cover a floor individually.

My job was to cover the third floor.

Taking the elevator up, I stepped out onto the third floor. Like the first, the third floor was heavily crowded. This particular seemed to allow smoking, so a heavy smog covered the room making it a bit harder to see. The odor was so strong, I had to cover my nose and repeatedly wipe my stinging eyes. Weaving my way through the thick crowd, I looked out for the orange tint of my friend’s hair. A half hour passed, and still to my dismay, no luck in finding J-Hope.

I was about to do another round of the floor when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was Taehyung.

“Hello?” I answered. Maybe Taehyung had more luck than I did.

“I found J-Hope.” He said nonchalantly.

“Really? That’s great! Are you two in the lobby now?”

“Well, no.” He responded, shuffling the phone around, causing some static.

“What do you mean?” I scoffed, exasperated.

“Well, I found him, but while I was trying to get him to come down with me, some guys started chasing him.”

“And you didn’t follow them??”

“Nah, that’s too much work.”

“Where did they go, TaeTae.” I crooned, perhaps if I called him by his favorite nickname, he’d be a little more cooperative.

“... Down the stairs. They’re probably out of the building by now if they haven’t caught him yet.” He replied, sounding openly pleased being called by the nickname.

“Meet me downstairs and we’ll go look for them.”

“ ‘Kay.”

Closing my phone and shoving it back in my pocket, I shoved my way through the crowd and to the stairwell. I didn’t have time to take the elevator. When I reached the lobby, Taehyung was already there waiting for me.

“‘Come on, let’s go.” I started towards the door, but was stopped when Taehyung grabbed my arm.

“What about the others?” He asked.
“You didn’t tell them already?”

He looked at me dumbfounded before shaking his head.

“We’ll tell them later, now come on!” I groaned and dragged him out the door.

Running down the street, it wasn’t long before we heard the sound of commotion coming from a nearby alleyway.

Taking a sharp turn inside where the voices were coming from, we came to a stop and took in the scene before us.

Pressed against the wall with an arm against his neck was our friend J-Hope. His lip was cut and his nose was bleeding, struggling beneath the man subduing him. Four other large men surrounded them, obviously upset.

“You think you can just take from me and not expect some sort of retribution, son?” The man restricting J-Hope hissed.

Opening his eyes, J-Hope looked up and noticed us at the end of the alleyway. Shooting us his trademark smile, he coughed when the arm was pressed harder against his neck.

“You think this is funny, man?” he exclaimed, pulling out a gun and pressing it against J-Hope’s head.

I stepped forward to intervene, but Taehyung grabbed me by my collar and pull me back forcefully. As I stumbled back, the last thing I saw was J-Hope shoot me a large bright grin and laugh heartily before Taehyung’s hands covered my eyes. A loud bang was heard and I screamed. My cheeks were damp beneath Taehyung’s cold hands and my ears rang sharply before everything went black.